Faculty and Staff Programs

USF faculty and staff are ambassadors of USF’s Jesuit Catholic educational tradition. These programs are designed to help faculty and staff grow in understanding of the Jesuit mission, deepen one's spiritual practice, and enrich one's professional vocation as a scholar, researcher and educator. Our programs are open to people of all faiths and spiritual traditions.

Kick off the academic year with a relaxing weekend away with colleagues at the beautiful El Retiro Retreat House in Los Altos. We are honored that Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboys and Homegirls Industries, will facilitate the weekend. He received an honorary doctorate degree from USF and is renowned for his work with former gang members in Los Angeles. There will be time for quiet prayer and reflection, discussion, and wine & cheese receptions with colleagues. Space is limited.

The Spring Break Immersion into Silence Ignatian Retreat is a silent, individually-directed retreat based on the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola and will include such activities as liturgies, Spiritual Direction, personal time, morning and evening prayer, meditation, and speakers.

Retreatants must commit to the entire retreat. Transportation will be provided from USF to the retreat center on Saturday, March 14 and back to USF on Wednesday, March 18. The pricing includes meals, lodging, and transportation. To register and pay (online only), please e-mail University Ministry Retreats Coordinator Emily Czarnik-Neimeyer at eaczarnikneimeyer@usfca.edu.The deadline to register and pay online is Monday, March 2, 2015.

Spiritual direction is an ancient practice of meeting one-on-one with a trained person to discuss one’s spiritual life. Practiced by both lay and ordained women and men, spiritual direction is available to people of all faiths and spiritual traditions. Directors do not impose their own agendas or beliefs on others – rather they listen carefully to the unfolding of directees’ lives in order to help them discern the ways in which God or the holy is leading them.

For more information about spiritual direction at USF please contact Fr. Donal Godfrey SJ at godfrey@usfca.edu.

The 19th Annotation Luncheon is the start of an opportunity to complete the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius over the academic year through weekly meetings with a spiritual director. Past participants describe the experience as rewarding and transformative personally and professionally. A prior conversation is required before the exercises begin and the program begins with a luncheon. Fall 2014 retreat begins September 10 in Romero Room at noon. If you have any questions about this program please contact Donal Godfrey S.J. at godfrey@usfca.edu.

Applications are due by the end of August to Donal Godfrey S.J.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

The Spiritual Exercises, which are at the center of Ignatian spirituality, grew out of Ignatius Loyola’s personal experience as a person seeking to grow in union with God and to discern God’s will. He kept a journal as he gained spiritual insight and deepened his spiritual experience. He added to these notes as he directed other people and discovered what “worked.” Eventually Ignatius gathered these prayers, meditations, reflections, and directions into a carefully designed framework of a retreat, which he called “spiritual exercises.” Ignatius believed that, just as one can use physical exercises to keep in good shape physically, one could use spiritual exercises to remain in shape spiritually.

One way to make these Exercises is in silence, full-time over one month. Another way to make is them over thirty weeks in a form known as the “19th annotation”. While each person’s experience is unique, below is a reflection from Tom Grossman, Associate Dean of Faculty and Research, School of Management faculty member:

My experiences in the 30 weeks of the "19th Annotation" retreat were transformative. I came out of these exercises with a richer understanding of who I am and what drives me personally and professionally; increased capacity for gratitude and compassion; and a greater willingness to stand up for things I believe in. The program provided a sometimes-demanding structure of activities that taught me many things, including the meaning of my own resistance to the structure. I was wonderfully supported by a spiritual director who helped me see myself in richer and more compassionate ways, and to notice and appreciate things that I habitually skip past. The director was able to bring to me centuries of Ignatian teachings and wisdom, and to give me a personal understanding of the term "God" that is uncontaminated by the ranting’s of the religious right. There were periods of joy, hard slogging, relief, bafflement, and ultimately a lasting calm. I'm very grateful to have had this opportunity.

The last year has witnessed a political impasse on immigration reform and the announcement of an unprecedented set of executive action initiatives that would extend administrative relief to as many as 5.2 million individuals that lack immigration status. This event will explore executive action and other recent developments in the immigration world in relation to a new book, International Migration, US Immigration Law and Civil Society: From the Colonial Era to the 113th Congress. Published by the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN) in collaboration with the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), the book contextualizes the present challenges in reaching policy consensus in the immigration debate. Two of the book’s contributors, Charles Wheeler and Sara Campos, will draw from their chapters on US immigration history and law, and the growing influence of civil society on the immigration debate and in immigrant communities. The discussion will also explore the role of civil society groups in securing and implementing the new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs announced by President Obama in November 2014. Despite the temporary injunction to prevent their implementation, nongovernmental and community-based organizations continue to prepare for the DAPA and DACA programs. The authors will be joined by Professor Bill Ong Hing who will speak on the law school’s Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Assistance Project in which law students are providing legal assistance to unaccompanied minors as they navigate the US immigration system. The event will also highlight other immigration scholarship and initiatives taking place at the University of San Francisco.

Participate in a series of conversations and reflections exploring spirituality in our daily lives through the UM/HR Discussion Group. Donal Godfrey, S.J., from University Ministry, facilitates the sessions. People of any or no faith traditions are welcome.

This semester, we are happy to feature the book, God of Surprises, by the late Gerard W. Hughes, a Jesuit priest who sadly passed away late last year. In this work, Hughes takes us on a spiritual journey of self-discovery and change, and introduces us to the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.